Monday, October 7, 2013

Arabella's Personification of a Letter

Why does Arabella personify the letter from Sir George?

"And thou, too indiscreet and unwary Friend, whose Folds contain the Acknowlegement of his Crime! What will it advantage thee or him, if, torn by my resenting Hand, I make thee suffer, for the Part thou bearest in thy Master's Fault; and teach him, by thy Fate, how little Kindness he has to expect from me!" (Lennox 173)

"Poor Tobin, who latterly fell blind, did not regret it so much for the weightier kinds of reading — the Paradise Lost, or. Comus, he could have read to him; but he missed the pleasure of skimming over with his own eye a magazine, or a light pamphlet" (Lamb 13).

I found it interesting that Arabella takes her anger at Sir George's "criminal" advances out on the physical letter. She is transfixed by written word. Clearly she sees life through the lens of the romantic stories she loves. Her frustration is rooted in her conflicting desires to either read the letter or banish it from her sight and punish Sir George by returning it to him. She is unable to punish Sir George so she desires to use the letter as a kind of simulacrum. She struggles between following her emotions and the precedents set for her by the romantic heroines. This is also starting to play our in her relationship with Glanville. She is allowing him more freedoms than may be precedent so that she does not lose his love by either his death or vexation. However, she still tries to control him as the heroines controlled their suitors.

The Lamb quote shows a contrast with how a simple pamphlet can bring pleasure to a reader. Sir George's letter envokes scorn and malice from Arabella but pamphlets proved joy for the reader Tobin. I'm not quite sure how to further connect the two works. The Lamb piece did represent how entranced people can be with various styles of books and writing.

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